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Old Diesel

goodoldboy

Well-Known Member
Joined
Apr 30, 2010
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Ive got about 3 L in a jerry can that's been there for about 3 years and i'm wondering if it's ok to use ? It's more a question of what to do with it if i don't tip it into the tank .
 
I would bang it in the tank! I've got an old perkins powered clark forklift and you wouldn't believe what it runs on!

Waste chip frying oil, real old kerosene, something I found in 3 cans didn't know what it was but it ran on it!

I make sure there's 1/2 tank of diesel in it and fill with what ever oil based mixer in! Lol
 
6-12 mounths seems to be the recomended maximum before it goes gummy. It's a small amount so why not wait till the tank is nearly empty, chuck it in and fill with new pump diesel?
 
Is the wife out :shifty:

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Yeah I think I'm going to Chuck it in the tank & fill up.as for the witches brew you put in your forklift Iwan I think old Perkins motors are more tolerant of that than a DI engine?
 
I've about 90 litres that's far older than that. I'm talking years old. I've had occasions to use a can now and then to avoid an early trip in the wrong direction to Tesco and it's been perfectly fine. I bought an 80 that hadn't run in 8 years and arrived on a loader. Half a tank in it. I ran it til it was empty and it never missed a beat. Never seen diesel change personally. Dragged my generator out at the start of covid and that must have had petrol in it that was three years at least. Couple of pulls and it ran fine. So yes I know that the wisdom is that fuel deteriorates, but not sure it's as bad as they say.
 
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With chainsaws there is a school of thought that after as little as one month that 2T mix shouldn't be used but none of the theory seems to based in any science or empirical evidence - just the idea the petrol "goes off " understandably someone who has forked out a grand on a saw doesn't want to take any chances .
 
I've about 90 litres that's far older than that. I'm talking years old. I've had occasions to use a can now and then to avoid an early trip in the wrong direction to Tesco and it's been perfectly fine. I bought an 80 that hadn't run in 8 years and arrived on a loader. Half a tank in it. I ran it til it was empty and it never missed a beat. Never seen diesel change personally. Dragged my generator out at the start of covid and that must have had petrol in it that was three years at least. Couple of pulls and it ran fine. So yes I know that the wisdom is that fuel deteriorates, but not sure it's as bad as they say.
Modern pump fuel will without doubt go off....old red diesel less so but modern red is B5 or B8 with a dye added so will also go off .
Problem is the bio element of diesel is hydoscopic the same a brake fluid and absorbs water from the atmosphere ..... this is more of an issue on Ag and Plant where often the fuel tank is next to a transmission or hyd oil tank that gets hot so heats the fuel up and then as it cools down again attracts moisture and condensation in the tank.
If you walk up to many Ag vehicles with often now 300 -400 litre plastic fuel tanks you can tell how much fuel is in it by the "tide" mark of condensation on the outside of the tank in the winter or when it gets damper.....this also extends to inside the fuel tank only the moisture is sitting above the fuel level unseen.
Not a problem you may think as we now fit very good water traps and WIF sensors..... we have to ....even a small amount of water will kill a common rail system in milliseconds and for a 6 cylinder unit can be a 10-12 k bill.
But..... and this is the issue.... a microbe can happily live and thrive in your fuel tank and although you can treat fuel and kill it even the dead ones block your filters....
We see most issues with things that are used seasonally like combines but be in no doubt once you have it in a tank it's very difficult to remove it .
Problem with diesel that has been stored in a can is that this bug has happily populated the fuel and you unwittingly give it a feast by putting it into your tank of fresh fuel.... vehicles that are heavily used and are drinking 100's of litres a day are less affected as the fuel is always fresh unless the customer has his own bunkering where again we see issues especially as many have filled tanks to the brim with cheap Covid fuel and even filled tanks that have sat almost empty for years .
Same with petrol the bio content is increasing and this is what causes the problems ..... strip a carb that has been left with modern bio laden petrol for some months and it is full of corrosion ..... not like the old days when you just got a gummy residue left .
Old fuel won't kill you engine but for the sake of 15 litres of derv in a can ....use it next time you have a bonfire to speed things along ;-)
 
Going back to 1991 I had a FZR1000 at the time that was laid up for 4 months over Winter with around a gallon left in the tank. When I came to start it is was very reluctant to fire, a lot of cranking where normally it was on the button. When it did fire it was rough running, would barely idle and with blueish smoke from the exhaust. I fetched 10 litres of new fuel, filled the tank and within 5 minutes it was running normally, easy start, smooth and no smoke. Fuel, petrol at least, definately goes off.
 
OK Grimbo that's convinced me to take it to the recycling point .diesel bug is something i hadn't considered .Interesting as well how the bio content is hydoscopic .With the saws brush cutters i drain them & then run them to use up any fuel in the carb if they get stored for long.We don't really do bonfies here but diesel is traditionally used to attract wild boar to hunt them .They seem to love rolling in it , supposedly to get rid of ticks.
 
Is the wife out
we never got round to getting married mate but all the same if i pulled a stunt like that she'd probably wrap the strainer round my head.My other half though is pretty tolerant & won't object to having a chainsaw n bits on the kitchen table.
 
Her - "These cakes taste funny" - me - "what could be better than funny cakes" ?

I convinced her long ago marriage is for fools , its a contract to hinder compromise .

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When I had the boat and it was laid up for long periods I used to run the outboard completely out of fuel then use misting oil to protect the bores (It was a 4 stroke). Never had any problems restarting it with fresh fuel.
 
OK Grimbo that's convinced me to take it to the recycling point .diesel bug is something i hadn't considered .Interesting as well how the bio content is hydoscopic .With the saws brush cutters i drain them & then run them to use up any fuel in the carb if they get stored for long.We don't really do bonfies here but diesel is traditionally used to attract wild boar to hunt them .They seem to love rolling in it , supposedly to get rid of ticks.
Put it in a oil can/sprayer and use in place of wd 40 etc on the landcruiser.
A bucket full is good for soaking rusty/oily parts in.
 
I don't think that I need convincing that fuel deteriorates per se. I'm just saying that I've had gallons of the stuff in sealed jerry cans for years and personally I've never experienced any issues at all. I had some that I used not that long ago that I had saved from when we had that major fuel crisis. At that time I was still driving a 2.0 GL Cavalier! I'm not one for taking stupid chances, just saying that diesel I have stored has come out looking and smelling as fresh and clean as the day it went into the can.
Colour me surprised if you like, but it's been good enough to use in an apoxylipse for sure. Have wondered about a bottle of that fuel doctor stuff though.
 
Its all oil , petrol is just more refined than diesel with more additives and additives tend to separate over a time . I've seen flakes floating in petrol years ago when i used to buy bikes that had been abandoned in the garden as non runners to fix and sell . Poor bio diesel killed my uncles circa 95 Hilux though not sure how but as the story goes Toyota and several other mechanics were stumped until until "one worked out it was a sensor or something" ?
 
I don't think that I need convincing that fuel deteriorates per se. I'm just saying that I've had gallons of the stuff in sealed jerry cans for years and personally I've never experienced any issues at all. I had some that I used not that long ago that I had saved from when we had that major fuel crisis. At that time I was still driving a 2.0 GL Cavalier! I'm not one for taking stupid chances, just saying that diesel I have stored has come out looking and smelling as fresh and clean as the day it went into the can.
Colour me surprised if you like, but it's been good enough to use in an apoxylipse for sure. Have wondered about a bottle of that fuel doctor stuff though.
Your diesel is proper historic diesel ....it's the modern stuff that gives problems .
We got an AEC Matador running on what would have been 1950's vintage diesel left in it's tank from when it was parked up.....it started without that much work despite being parked for 60 years....
 
Ahhh, interesting. When I had the 80 that had been parked for 8 years (pre SORN days so the DVLA had no records of it) I did open the tank and look inside. It was a clean as a whistle but the fuel was different in both smell and colour. Not in an aged sort of way, more like in a really good diesel way. This modern supermarket stuff isn't like old heating oil anymore, it's like water.
 
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